MLB Player News

After pitching just 21 innings last year in his first season of professional baseball, Tong has emerged as one of the top pitching prospects in the Mets’ organization in 2024. The 21-year-old made just two starts in A-ball before being promoted to High-A, where he has made 12 starts and carries a 2.85 ERA. Over his last four starts, he has been particularly electric, allowing just two runs on eight hits in 22 innings, which is a 0.82 ERA, while striking out 32 batters. He figures to be promoted to Double-A by the end of the season and could be an option for the Mets big league team by the end of next season if he keeps pitching like this.

Stanton underwent an MRI earlier on Monday that revealed a low-grade calf strain. He’ll need some additional time off to put the issue to bed, but isn’t expected to require a lengthy absence. The 36-year-old veteran’s departure opens the door for Jasson Domínguez to continue getting opportunities at DH against right-handed pitching.

Clemens had just three RBI coming into the game. He was one of the Twins’ lefty hitters who had a tough time while the club faced a barrage of southpaws over the first three weeks, but he’s back getting regular playing time during a run of righties over the last week and has collected hits in six of seven games to boost his season line to .194/.275/.371.

He struck out five. The two runs came in the fifth after he walked back-to-back batters to start the inning and gave up a single and a sac fly. Priot to that, he’d retired 12 of 13 batters. Control could be an issue for Prielipp, but the stuff is there for him to continue to contribute. His excellent slider was especially effective tonight; he got first-pitch strikes 10 of the 11 times he used it to start an at-bat, and the Mariners were 0-for-6 when they put it into play. He’ll get the Blue Jays on Saturday.

Castillo gave up seven runs for the second time this season. His velocity tonight was easily his worst of the year. He averaged 95.3 mph with his fastball last time out. Tonight, his hardest pitch of the game was 95.3 mph, and his average fastball was nearly two mph slower. He’s a fringy mixed-league option as is, but if that velocity doesn’t come back next time out against Royals, it’ll become an easy call to drop him.

A rare stolen base for Jeffers in his first attempt of this season. He was 1-for-2 there last year. Jeffers is batting .282/.414/.465 while starting 20 of the Twins’ 29 games this season.

Wallner is hitless in three straight games and 4-for-49 in his last 13 games, leaving him at .172/.274/.290 overall. With his strikeout rate up to 37 percent, a Triple-A stint could be a possibility here. However, his most likely replacement, Alan Roden, just got hurt and won’t be an option.

It’s Suarez’s third scoreless start in last four outings, but this came with a few more swings and misses than the other two. It’s his sixth career 10-strikeout game. Incredibly, four of those have come in his last 14 starts (the other three with the Phillies down the stretch last season). He totaled two in his first 111 starts. The gem makes Suarez 2-2 with a 3.09 ERA this season. He’ll have his next start come Sunday at home versus the Astros.

With his velocity down a little, Cease struck out a season-low five while giving up season-high run and hit (seven) totals. He still didn’t give up any homers for the sixth straight start. He’ll take a 2.87 ERA into his next start Saturday against Minnesota.

Mayer had three hard-hit balls tonight and raised his average from .224 to .243. His rough start has led to criticism of Boston’s decision to commit to him at second and some calls to maybe move Ceddanne Rafaela back to the infield, but Mayer has played terrific defense and struck out just 16 percent of the time while showing well above average bat speed. As a platoon guy, he might not be fantasy relevant at any point this year, but he’s going to wind up being a more-than-adequate starter for Boston.

It has really not been Duran’s year so far. He struck out once tonight, but he hit the ball hard his other four times up, exceeding 104 mph off the bat on three occasions. The balls in play had xBAs of .700, .510, .460 and .450, but none paid off for the left-handed hitter.